{"id":501128,"date":"2026-02-24T14:35:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T14:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/501128\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T14:35:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T14:35:10","slug":"sanjay-leela-bhansali-ismail-darbar-opens-up-on-fallout-with-sanjay-leela-bhansali-says-they-had-a-good-bond-till-heeramandi-he-betrayed-me-twice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/501128\/","title":{"rendered":"Sanjay Leela Bhansali: Ismail Darbar opens up on fallout with Sanjay Leela Bhansali, says they had a good bond till ‘Heeramandi’: ‘He betrayed me twice’ |"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ismail After creating timeless melodies in films like ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’ and ‘Devdas’, composer Ismail Darbar<\/a> and filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali reportedly experienced a serious fallout. The tension is said to have escalated after an article referred to Ismail as the \u201cbackbone\u201d of Bhansali\u2019s series Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar. The description allegedly upset Bhansali, and Ismail later claimed he was removed from the project despite dedicating nearly one and a half years to composing its music.In a recent conversation with Subhojit Ghosh on YouTube, Ismail reflected on his long, often turbulent association with Bhansali. He explained that disagreements were nothing new between them \u2014 creative clashes were common \u2014 but they had always found a way to collaborate, until the Heeramandi episode changed the dynamic. <\/p>\n

FIR lodged against Sanjay Leela Bhansali over alleged fraud in Rajasthan<\/p>\n

Recalling the Devdas phase, Ismail revealed that Bhansali had restricted him from giving interviews at the time. Yet, he acknowledged the director\u2019s patience and support over the years. He said, \u201cBhansali didn\u2019t allow anyone to take my interview during Devdas. However, I wouldn\u2019t have spoken in front of people (about all of this) as had it not been for Sanjay Leela Bhansali and what he did for me\u2026 He tolerated me a lot. No matter how many bad things I say about him, but I feel the pain inside because if he would not have tolerated my tantrums at that time, I would not have come in front of the public.\u201dDescribing their creative process, Ismail admitted that arguments were frequent but rooted in passion. \u201cWe used to fight during the making of every song. I respect him a lot in this matter because he gave me and my family a lot of love. We had a good bond till Heeramandi, he called me from front to invite me for the show\u2019s premier. He had told me that he didn\u2019t call anyone else but me, but by that time my heart had already broken.\u201d He later added, \u201cIf me and Sanjay would have done Heeramandi together, we would have created history.\u201dHe also revisited a powerful memory from Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, particularly the moment Bhansali first heard the iconic track \u201cTadap Tadap.\u201d \u201cHe heard the song nine times when he first heard it. After hearing it for the 9th time, he turned to me and he was crying like a dog. It looked like somebody close to him had died. He admitted that it was this song that completed his film in his mind as he got the idea where to end the film and where to put the interval. After this, I thought at least now he will final the music, but then also, he didn\u2019t do it.\u201dSpeaking candidly about their emotional bond, Ismail shared, \u201cMe and Sanjay have always fought like cats and dogs. But we love each other. And we both respect each other\u2019s work a lot. He will stand for me if I face a bad time in my career because he is a good human being. When my father had died, it was Sanjay who brought me this news at night, and he also came to Surat, my hometown. Seven years later, when my mother died, I didn\u2019t even tell him about it, but he got to know and attended the funeral. He sat near my parents grave for so long. Even I or any of my relatives didn\u2019t sit there for so long. He is a different person. I am sad that I lost a good friend because of this work.\u201dIsmail further remembered a conversation following the box office failure of Saawariya. \u201cWhen Saawariya had flopped, he told me that \u2018Ismail, we will not fight from now\u2019. And the film met the same fate that I had told him to 3 years ago.\u201dAccusing Bhansali of going back on his word, Ismail stated, \u201cHe betrayed me, not one, but twice. He committed to working with me, and then didn\u2019t do so. I had worked on Heeramandi for 1.5 years, and he didn\u2019t tell me before replacing me.\u201dWhen asked whether a future collaboration was possible, Ismail responded on a philosophical note: \u201cThis will not happen if I, you or Sanjay wish about it. This will happen only if God will want us to work together. And this is why I\u2019m saying sorry to Sanjay. And I am apologising to the audience for my remarks.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After creating timeless melodies in films like ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’ and ‘Devdas’, composer Ismail Darbar and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":501129,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[64,63,251982,134,251979,251981,74137,251980,251978,344,251983],"class_list":["post-501128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-devdas-soundtrack-ismail-darbar","tag-entertainment","tag-heeramandi-music-controversy","tag-hum-dil-de-chuke-sanam-music-composer","tag-ismail-darbar","tag-ismail-darbar-on-heeramandi-exit","tag-ismail-darbar-sanjay-leela-bhansali-fallout","tag-movies","tag-tadap-tadap-song-creation-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/501129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}